mr. platts. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he may consume. mr. platts: thank you, madam speaker. i appreciate the gentleman yielding. madam speaker, i rise in strong support of this legislation which takes important steps to eliminate federal government waste and inefficiencies. i served as the chairman of the oversight and government reform subcommittee on government management finance and accountability for four years where i focused my efforts on making the federal government more accountable.% my subcommittee held numerous hearings which all too often accounting errors such as overpayment for services or redundant payments were discovered or where programs were not effectively fulfilling their intended mission. at a time when the national debt is over $13 trillion, it has never been more apparent that the federal government must spend tax dollars wisely. federal programs must be monitored to ensure our investments are presenting clea

mr. platts of pennsylvania for today and june 23. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house, revise and extends their remarks and include therein extraneous material. mr. burton for today, junn 23, 24 and 25, myself, mr. poe, for june 28 and 29, mr. bilirakis for today, mr. forbes for juue 23 and 24, ms. ros-lehtinen for today, june 23, 24, mr. jones for june 28 and 29, mr. gohmert for today and june 23 and 24, and mr. cao for june 29. the speaker prootempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman rom michigan rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consenttthat today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered iito, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extends thei

mr. speaker, on tuesday morning, under the beautiful prairie sky, u.s. army specialist blaine edward reding was laid to rest in an old and is he convenient platts moth, nebrassa, cemetery. specialist reding was a 22-year-old newly wed, married just 10 weeks to nicky, before a roadside bomb took his life in afghanistan on june 7. he died along with four other soldiers, two of whom were his ccose friends. blaine reding followed a tradition, a family tradition, of service to our nation. in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, heeding the call to duty was also important to blaine's younger brother, private logan reding, who was also serving in afghanistan in the 101st airborne just 15 miles away. upon learning of his brother's death, private reding dutyfully escorted blaine's flag-draped coffin back to doven air force base to meet their parents, as well as nicky. mr. speaker, at the funeral, dozens of patriot guard riders, children with their mothers with their hands over their hearts, saluting veterans, local officials and hundreds of citizens lined the streets, reverendly bearing american flags to honor specialist reding's sacrifice. a hand-painted sign